Talk:German cuisine

Structure of Meals

As far as I know (and have experienced as a native German), Germans very often eat cereal for breakfast (such as cornflakes, muesli etc., normally served with milk (sometimes with yoghurt and fresh fruits)), not only bread/rolls. Furthermore, I don't like the expression "strong coffee" since Germans do not drink only the strong variety of it. Maybe that should be changed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.51.45.173 (talk) 00:25, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

American pommes

I changed the part about American pommes being common. They really only exist in fast-food restaurants such as McDonalds, the European pommes eaten everywhere else are much more common at German restaurants or Imbissbuden. 206.169.65.43 (talk) 17:37, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Would anyone care to elaborate as to what the difference is? I can't tell a difference between any of the Pommes Frites that I got in Germany... --Puellanivis (talk) 03:16, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

In Germany no distinction is made between "american" and "european" fries. There are just Pommes Frites, which are what Americans refer to as French Fries. The Pommes Frites served at McDonalds and Burgerking are the same style served anywhere else. Also, Pommes Frites are not reckoned as typical American (fast-)food, as they were common in Germany before American cousine arrived. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.69.46.44 (talk) 09:37, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Puellanivis - "American" Pommes: very long, very thin Pommes, usually served only at fast food joints. Regular Pommes: shorter and thicker. But as the previous user wrote, Germans really don't make a distinction between the two. It's all Pommes and the only distinction I know is regular Pommes and dutch Pommes (the latter being even thicker and supposedly better).(195.191.69.212 (talk) 11:25, 22 July 2010 (UTC))

"Quark" link

I added some points under "Saxony" and used "quark" twice. Unfortunately, the link you get here is to quarks as in physics, not cuisine. While I'd hope anyone would realise this isn't quite what's meant here and look up the disambig. page, I'd still be grateful if someone could put it right (don't know how :-(). Thanks!!

Style Query

This page has a lot of instances of the English name of a region followed by the German version. I've tried to make it more consistent throughout the page; my chosen style was to put the German version in italics and parentheses. Is there a more correct way to do it? I couldn't find anything in the Manual of Style. Lancevortex 12:12, 13 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Yet another style question

No offense to anyone, but the article reads a bit like it was hacked together by a bunch of german countryboys (und das mein ich jetzt gar nich böse...bin ja selber einer :). I'll try to convert the whole thing into a more readable english in the next couple of hours... Ferkelparade 09:57, 28 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Rewritten and reformatted...I hope it's better now :p Ferkelparade 21:16, 9 May 2004 (UTC)

Well done for that FP, it certainly does look better, but I'm not sure why you've used <br />s instead of paragraphs — they look odd and are semantically incorrect. If a piece of text is worthy of being a separate paragraph then it should be so, if not then it should just be another sentence like any other. Hope I don't sound too much like a schoolteacher! --Lancevortex 11:34, 10 May 2004 (UTC)

Well, I guess those old html habits are hard to break :) Ferkelparade 12:01, 10 May 2004 (UTC)

More

Some more to put in: Zwiebelkuchen, Federweißer, Apfelsaftschorle, Most, Kartoffelkuchen, Schweinshaxe, Broiler, Labskaus. Sorry, my english is not good enough to explain this things :-) . Grettings 217.233.68.5

Yes, we can see this! (Sorry, couldn't resist ...)

Currywurst

...I've never seen a Currywurst made with "boiled" sausage (whatever that is...Bockwurst?), and I've lived in Northern Germany for 13 years. Any comments before I change that? --Stephan Schulz 15:27, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I´ve never seen this. I guess in 99% of the cases its made with a roasted/fried sausage. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.57.2.107 (talk) 10:21, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

Yes you are right it's not that common, but often you can decide whether you want it with a "red" or a "white" sausage (Bockwurst/Bratwurst). I am from Germany — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.255.90.105 (talk) 20:59, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

--->Currywurst is never been boiled. "Red" sausage is "Rindswurst" (= beef sausage) and "white" sausage is pork. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.254.44.252 (talk) 13:20, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

Meat section

Ok, anyone else notice that the "Meats" section is basically about the sausages of Thueringen? and POV isn't exactly neutral - "the best sausages are from Thuringa" or whatever that was. how about something more like "Central Germany, and especially the area of Thuringa, has a reputation for some of the best sausages" or something along those lines. and i know there are more meat dishes than just sausage (though come to think of it, nothing i can think of that's distinctly german: Hamburger is an american invention, though i suppose the Frikadelle counts... Koenigsberger Klopse? Schaschlik and Gulasch aren't originally German either). Any thoughts on the issue? YggdrasilRoot 21:09, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

I tend to agree, the paragraph on sausages was pretty POV and going into way too much detail. I cleaned up the paragraph - I personally think it's totally sufficient to describe the basic meat-eating habits in that paragraph and list individual dishes in the "specialties" section below. -- Ferkelparade π 23:05, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

The current discussion of meats and sausages appears to be taken verbatim from the external link for german cuisine. I'm not clear exactly what the licensing for that web site is, but at the very least it deserves a citation instead of just an external link. Bobthegoatboy 03:44, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

I was raised in Texas, but my mother cooked a lot of German cuisine. We had a lot of German type sausage. Sausage with sauerkraut and fried potatoes was served frequently. Wiener schnitzel (which my mother referred to as "round steak") was the only other German type of meat-dish she cooked. I added a link to wiener schnitzel in the "Other Dishes" section. truerock2 12/20/2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Truerock2 (talk • contribs) 19:21, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Koenigsberger Kloepse arent German? *lol* You´re kidding. Why´s that because East Prussia isnt German anymore? Rubbish. This dish is most German. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.57.2.107 (talk) 10:23, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

I re-adjusted the German meat consumption data. It is about 61kg (140 lbs) in average, not 33kg. Guess someone mistook kilogram and pound - 33kg would be rather what a chinese citizen consumes per year. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.74.200.93 (talk) 20:58, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Side dishes

The side dishes section mentions that the popularity of potatoes is waning. I lived in Bavaria from Feb 2002-Mar 2005 and saw no sign of this. Potatoes as a side dish was almost impossible to escape. Anthopos 15:41, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

Waning as "from 99% to 80%" or so...and that's for simple boiled potatos (Warning: Numbers made up on the spot). Potatos are still popular. But rice and pasta are making inroads. --Stephan Schulz 21:18, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

I also think that this trend depends on where you live. In rural areas it shouldn't be as strong as in urban areas.Toscho 21:25, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Aalsuppe

It´s true that "Aal" means eel, but the origin of "Aal" in this context is from a dialect, in which "Aal" means "alles/everything" in norther german dialect. Only for tourists tere ist eel in it. --87.184.194.147 (talk) 19:17, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Wrong. Almost every recipe for Aalsuppe contains Eel and Ham (Schinken) as basic ingredients. --Joachim Weckermann (talk) 08:38, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, there’s an element of truth, but the statement is largely a mischaracterization. The soup was once “Aolsuppe”, where “aol” did indeed mean “all”. However, to satisfy the expectations of those who did not speak the dialect, eel was added around the 18th century. So yes, a couple hundred years ago, the eel was for tourists. Today, however, eel is essentially mandatory; Aalsuppe has evolved to fit its literal meaning. Ɛƚƈơƅƅơƚɑ _talk 14:44, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Well then, that´s new to me (which doesn´t nessescarily mean it´s not a fact). But were there so many tourists a couple of hundred years ago that there´s the need to change a recipe just for the reason that tourists really get what they understood? I have my doubts. By the way, a very ungerman behaviour, too. As you see in the article, so many regions in Germany (not to say ALL) have kept their own recipes (and dialects and dressing manners and and and...). --Joachim Weckermann (talk) 16:45, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know that "tourist" is the right term to use, per se; I was just trying to tie it in to the previous comment. I can, however, easily imagine an 18th century German ordering a bowl with certain expectations and lodging a complaint when the expected eel failed to appear. I don’t know that it was a beloved dish with a recipe so established as to be resistant to change. It is, after all, natural for food to evolve over time. Economically, it makes sense, too (i.e. add a “fancy” ingredient and up your profit margin - now that's German behaviour). Prost. Ɛƚƈơƅƅơƚɑ _talk 16:57, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

The de.wikipedia article about Aalsuppe points out that the tourist-story is a folk etymology with no evidence for it. Even the first written recipe deriving from 1782 already contains eel. --Joachim Weckermann (talk) 17:44, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Jükääg

I`m a native from Hamburg and have never heard of "Jükääg". I tried to find something about it by google, but in my opinion there isn`t something like this... (Sorry for my english) Moritz

Same here.

The etymology doesn't even sound German. Maybe Finnish? The Finnish language uses a lot of "aa" or "ää" pairings. JanderVK

No, not Finnish, they don´t have "ü" in Finnish. When I google the term I get a lot of results refering to the North of Germany. But then again, it might be taken from this article. No reference in German Wikipedia. Anyone from Hamburg or further north knows about this? 128.176.169.252 (talk) 15:41, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Im from Hamburg. Never heard of it, too bye —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.108.230.100 (talk) 19:14, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Whats Jükääg??? I am from northern germany and this is the first time I have red about it. It reads like a swedish word.--78.54.38.65 (talk) 16:49, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

Rote Grütze

I changed the description of the dish from a "jelly" to a "pudding". Even though grütze translates roughly as grits, which might make some think it was a jelly, I've found descriptions of it in a German menu translator and a cookbook which both refer to it as a pudding, and the cooking process seems to reflect that. As for the related dishes, I assumed the same applied. LindeeK 09:31, 12 November 2006 (UTC) Hmm. As far as I know, "pudding refers to a soft stuff containing flours and egg yolk, boiled in hot steam, whereas "rote Grütze" consists of berry juice and utilises starch as a thikening agent...I would think "jelly" is more like it, even if there are whoile berries in it —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.56.132.233 (talk) 22:46, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Drinks

Spezi is a soft drink made with cola and lemonade. In Southern Germany and Austria, Spezi a generic term for a mixture of cola and Fanta (or a similar orange soft drink). In some regions (Emsland) spezi is a mixture of cola and schnaps. Here in Hamburg a Spezi is just a mixture of Coke and Fanta as well. And I think that applies to most Germans.

Schnaps is a fine german spirit distilled from apples and pears ("Obstler"), plums, cherries, or "Mirabellen". Schnaps actually is the general term for distilled beverages with at least 15 % alcohol by volume (according to German wikipedia).

In legal terms, Schnaps has a very specific meaning, depending not only on alcohol percentage. Maybe someone who is in these things can give the differences between Bränden, Schnaps, Herb Liquer (?) and other Liqueors (?).Toscho 21:24, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

hi there, i'm going to add some sentences about mineral water, for which i have no source other than my own experience. maybe someone can find a source. 89.247.45.132 (talk) 19:32, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Bread section

On Jan, 13. additional content was added stating, that there are about 6,000 types of bread. This contradicts the information given some lines above: "The country boasts at least 300 different types of bread, ...". 6,000 types seems exaggerated to me. --Zinnmann 09:19, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Dampfnudel

The Dampfnudel is missing! http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dampfnudel

Palatinate

Some more Informations for the palatinate cuisine can be found in the german Wikipedia: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:Pfälzer_Küche http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfälzer_Küche

Marmalade

Attention. Marmelade in Germany means normally Jam from fruits like strawberry and not the special (bitter-) marmelade, the Britains normally use. It is a normal German-Tourist-mistake going to Britain and meaning jam and getting marmelade.

Rinderroulade

I moved Rinderroulade to Thuringian cuisine. Although it is eaten in all of Germany, Thuringians eat it distinctively more often (or used to). Rinderroulade with Thüringer Klöße and red (apple) cabbage is a fixed dish that every adult Thuringian has eaten at least once (if he wasn't raised as a vegetarian).

If you think, that you make a better Rinderroulade than me, you may move it back. ;-) Toscho 21:20, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

"Nonexistant Additives in GDR cuisine"

Are there any reliable sources for the statement, that there were no chemical additives in GDR cuisine? Secondly, to call this eventual lack a positive is true but personal opinion. Thirdly, there are probably no statistics regarding food allergies in the GDR.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

The article could use information on the cuisine of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Hinterpommern. For those knowledgeable, de:Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersche Küche would be a good place to start. Olessi (talk) 20:54, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Regions

• East prussia isn't a part of germany evermore.
• Silesia the same
• Swabia is a part of Baden-Wüttemberg, together with Baden (also called Badnerland). According to the differences between Baden and Swabia, these regions should be discribed seperatly.

I really would like to correct the article, but my lack of english speech knowledge makes this impossible. --84.159.252.177 (talk) 18:23, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

East Prussia and Silesia are no longer parts of Germany, but their culture, insofar as it is German (especially Silesia, let's face it, has also a quite Polish history), is part of German culture up to today. It is not senseless to present Silesian peculiarities in a Silesia subsection.--131.159.0.7 (talk) 15:58, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Silesia has more historic connections to bohemia or later austria, to be accurate.--92.226.85.232 (talk) 21:57, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

GDR Cuisine

Germany historically had been influenced by its immediate Slavic neighbours for example Silesia and East Prussia. After 1945 most of the expelled refugees resettled in what became West Germany. So I gather it is not too correct to suggest East Germany's food was influenced by Slavic countries' cuisines while there was none in West Germany. Of course the extent is still true - probably a lot more in the GDR.

Secondly, how much of this Eastern influence remained after reunification? And have they permeated the rest of Germany as well? --JNZ (talk) 10:37, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

One has to regard, that Silesia and East Prussia have been Slavic only since 1945. Before they were Part of Prussia and therefore were mostly of German culture. (There was also Slavic culture in these regions. See e.g. Silesia for more information.) I doubt, that most expelled refugees resettled in West Germany, because East Germany and Austria were simply nearer. The problem is only, that GDR didn't have any kind of official "Vertriebenenpolitik" due to its close relationship to Poland and Czechoslovakia. So the expelled refugees were only active in West Germany, and hence one only got and gets mostly to know from these. So I'd doubt as well a strong influence of Slavic culture on East German cuisine, apart from the immediate Sorbic influence. Toscho (talk) 10:58, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

Solyanka was very common once and often still is. There are probably other examples as well, like Goulash. It would probably deserve a mention. --Prüm (talk) 18:05, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Drinking Water

Drinking Water is indeed one of the best-regulated food in Germany. So its paragraph is correct, currently, except for the sentence about chlorides. Usually, no chloride is added, but in cases, where the drinking is contaminated with pathogens, chloride will be added. Toscho (talk) 13:55, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Serviettenknodel

Is this more of a German dish, an Austrian dish or both.

I think it doesnt matter. Austria is part of german settlements. Austrians are ethnical germans. They speak german they eat german they live like germans .. they are germans. Read the history of austria you will see. Borders exist only on the map.

Uhm, basically: No. They speak a variety of German language, but that's about it. They have their own culture, cousine, history, everything. Saying there is no difference between Germany and Austria would be as true as saying the US and Britain are equal.

"US and Canada" would be a better comparison, I think. And the Serviettenknödel is a typical Austro-Bavarian dish, but almost unkown in Germany outside of Bavaria.

Foreign Influences

Turkish immigrants also have had a considerable influence on German eating habits; Döner kebab, a meat sandwich invented by Berlin Turkish immigrants,[dubious – discuss] is Germany's favourite fast food, selling twice as much as the major burger chains put together (namely Mc Donald's and Burger King, being the only widespread burger chains in Germany).

This section is absolutely correct. There´s a german saying. "Nur Döner macht schöner". This means something like "Only Döner makes you nice(r)". (kalt wie stahl) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.226.150.180 (talk) 12:21, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

This certainly isn't correct in my experience, having traveled widely across Germany for the past 7 years. Germany's "favorite fast food" is the sausage. In any major German city it's impossible to walk 2 blocks without coming across a sausage stand. The same goes for train stations. Sausages, sausages, sausages. I don't remember ever seeing a doner kebab stand! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.96.75.23 (talk) 18:46, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Along the main street of my town I count: 1 McDonalds, 1 Burger King, 1 sausage stand, 1 pasta stand, 2 Chinese/Asian fastfood stads, 8 (!) Döner stands. I think sausage stands are widespread only on festivals and, as you said, train stations. Greetings from Germany, --ᛏᛟᚱᚨᚾᚨ (talk) 16:46, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

However, your saying is, of course, a Carnival parody. ("Ich hab ne Zwiebel aufm Kopf und bin ein Döner - denn Döner - macht schöner"...) --131.159.0.7 (talk) 16:00, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

That's right. That "saying" isn't even really a saying, but rather part of a song text. But nonetheless, Döner is probably the most widespread fastfood in Germany. Regards, ᛏᛟᚱᚨᚾᚨ (talk) 01:04, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Sausage stands ("Würstchenbude", "Frittenbude", "Pommesbude", in some places de:Grillwalkers) are ubiquitous in many German cities. I am not saying Döner stands aren't ubiquitous too. --Prüm (talk) 17:59, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Maybe we Germans are so used to seeing Würstchen everywhere we don't even realize how many there really are.

But you're right: you can even get Sausages (in bread rolls) and “Fleischkäsweckle” (slices of Leberkäse in bread rolls) in many bakeries and almost any butcher shop (and those are ubiquitous, too). ᛏᛟᚱᚨᚾᚨ (talk) 16:36, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Bread rolls

This picture is not good it shows "frozen" EU-standard bread rolls from gas station or super markets. In general germans are buying bread rolls in a bakery store and the rolls are bigger and much more delicious. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.226.150.180 (talk) 12:43, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Absolutely correct, I replaced the image. --Prüm (talk) 18:11, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Hessen specialties

Article is missing the typical foods from Hessen: Handkäs' mit Musik (Cheese); Grüne Sosse mit Kartoffeln (herbal sauce with potatoes); Äppelwoi (appel wine); Rippchen mit Kraut (rips with kraut); Spundekäs (cream cheese); Frankfurter Würstchen (sausages); Zwiebelploatz (onion cake); Kreppel (sort of a donut without a hole and jam in it)

Photo "a German style buffet"

Cheese and meat are usually served on two different plates. On the photo, cheese and meat are lying right next to each other, which is usually not the case. Meat usually doesn't smell - cheese does, and that's why they are served on different plates. This is one of the basic rules for preparing a buffet.Johnny2323 (talk) 21:55, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

I think that's rather tenative - i've lived in Germany for many years and I've had breakfast with meat and cheese on the same plate many times.--94.195.193.43 (talk) 02:52, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Fish

"On the german coasts along the northsea shrimp are an economic important delicacy." Would like to add this fact about Germany to the section about fish. What do you think? Bonzothedog (talk) 10:23, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Eintopf

I think Eintopf deserves a special mention here. "Auflauf" (Casserole) is also quite popular. --Prüm (talk) 17:21, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Toastbrot

is never the second most popular bread in Germany!!! It is only used frequently in the grilling-season and I think I go not to far stating `9 of 10 germans don´t consider it a `real bread´ at all´! Why should germans abroad complain about the lack of good bread, if there is such `toastbrot´ all around? Put it maybe at the 10th place...--78.54.38.65 (talk) 16:45, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

According to this source [1], Toastbrot seems to hold a second place (21%) in Germany meanwhile. However, it remains unclear how representive this statistics really is. I could not support this from my personal experience and would have assumed a much lower percentage. --Matthiaspaul (talk) 23:05, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

Statistics are much overrated and not representative whatsoever (which is my distinct opinion, not common-sense). If You go to a bakery or similiar You wont find Toastbrot at all - it is maybe to find in the big grocery retailers, but quantitywise not 21%. Btw. it is i.m.h.O. the most untypical bread for a german.--78.54.38.47 (talk) 14:40, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

As Germans, we know that brown bread (sour dough type) - be it rye or whole grain/wheat - is the actual real staple food in Germany. The article doesn't reflect this. Germany is the land of breads before sausages :) 89.166.217.4 (talk) 22:56, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

Cheese

I'm surprised that there's no section on German cheeses, particularly as a staple food. Considering the rather important role of cheese in German cuisine, and the multitude of different cheese varieties, this would probably be a good addition. siafu (talk) 18:58, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

Being a neighbour to the french and the swiss - one could rather understand the relativ neutral view on cheese by the germans. Cheese varieties are - as much as any dairy products - widespread, but not as celebrated as meat, bread a.s.o. German cheese had its place in every meal, but the famous `Tilsiter´ or the hessian `Handkäs´ is not the proud of the whole nation. I think, cheese is a very rural and regional thing in germany and it displays more the taste of the land than any other dish. My grandfather was a well known dairy-master (`Käser´/`Käsemeister´) and he made his cheese everytime somewhat different - don´t know how to explain it, but cheese is something personal here. If we want real good cheese, we buy french, swiss, italian, danish or even dutch cheese! Cheese and bread are ment to be together...--92.226.86.215 (talk) 22:16, 20 February 2013 (UTC)